COMPOSITION AND PROPERTIES OF STEEL

Classifications Of Steel
Among makers and sellers, carbon tool-steels are classed by grade
and temper. The word grade is qualified by many adjectives of
more or less cryptic meaning, but in general they aim to denote
the process and care w...

Composition And Properties Of Steel
It is a remarkable fact that one can look through a dozen text
books on metallurgy and not find a definition of the word steel.
Some of them describe the properties of many other irons and then
allow you to guess t...

Sulphur
SULPHUR is another element (symbol S) which is always found in
steel in small quantities. Some sulphur is contained in the ore
from which the iron is smelted; more sulphur is introduced by the
coke and fuel used. S...

Phosphorus
PHOSPHORUS is an element (symbol P) which enters the metal from
the ore. It remains in the steel when made by the so-called acid
process, but it can be easily eliminated down to 0.06 per cent
in the basic process. ...

Silicon
SILICON is a very widespread element (symbol Si), being an essential
constituent of nearly all the rocks of the earth. It is similar to
carbon in many of its chemical properties; for instance it burns
very readily ...

Manganese
MANGANESE is a metal much like iron. Its chemical symbol is Mn. It
is somewhat more active than iron in many chemical changes--notably
it has what is apparently a stronger attraction for oxygen and
sulphur than has...

Alloying Elements
Commercial steels of even the simplest types
are therefore primarily alloys of iron and carbon. Impurities and
their remedies are always present: sulphur, phosphorus, silicon
and manganese--to say nothing of oxygen...

Properties Of Steel
Steels are known by certain tests. Early tests were more or less
crude, and depended upon the ability of the workman to judge the
grain exhibited by a freshly broken piece of steel. The cold-bend
test was also very...

Tensile Properties
Strength of a metal is usually expressed in the number of pounds
a 1-in. bar will support just before breaking, a term called the
ultimate strength. It has been found that the shape of the test
bar and its method o...

Impact Tests
Impact tests are of considerable importance as an indication of
how a metal will perform under shock. Some engineers think that
the tensile test, which is one made under slow loading, should
therefore be supplement...

Fatigue Tests
It has been known for fifty years that a beam or rod would fail
at a relatively low stress if only repeated often enough. It has
been found, however, that each material possesses a limiting stress,
or endurance lim...